


christmas just does this to me.

by pyroallerdyce



Series: a dyad in the force (aka all my ben/rey fics) [162]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Tree, Established Relationship, F/M, Inspired by Music, Kissing, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Relationship(s), Short One Shot, Thanksgiving, Tumblr Prompt, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:33:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27746026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyroallerdyce/pseuds/pyroallerdyce
Summary: Rey wasn’t particularly attached to the Thanksgiving holiday.  She was British and so celebrating such a distinctly American holiday wasn’t something that she had ever put all that much thought into.  Her parents had shared the same view, and so even though she’d lived in America since she was twelve, she hadn’t really cared about it until she was in college.  Finn and Rose had introduced her to the idea of enjoying the day even if she wasn’t into the symbolism, but she still hadn’t really celebrated it until she’d started dating Ben.or: it's the day after Thanksgiving, Rey has a tradition she wants to keep, and Ben absolutely does not understand why putting up the Christmas tree has to happen that day until he does.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: a dyad in the force (aka all my ben/rey fics) [162]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1601755
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	christmas just does this to me.

**Author's Note:**

> hello awesome nerds! this is a little precursor to my upcoming December writing challenge. a prompt a day, a story a day, and while not all of them will be Star Wars stories, hopefully it will finish breaking my writer's block and I can get back to writing like I normally would be. anyway, this challenge that I do will be fun, because my writing challenges are always fun, and kicking it off with this today was nice. 
> 
> and as always, if you like what you read and you want to see more, please let me know via a comment or kudos or bookmark so that I know I'm not writing into a void. enjoy!
> 
> Prompt: “We’re not putting the tree up. It’s November.” (imaginesandsmut on Tumblr)  
> Song Title Comes From: Christmas Just Does This To Me by Matt Wertz

Rey wasn’t particularly attached to the Thanksgiving holiday. She was British and so celebrating such a distinctly American holiday wasn’t something that she had ever put all that much thought into. Her parents had shared the same view, and so even though she’d lived in America since she was twelve, she hadn’t really cared about it until she was in college. Finn and Rose had introduced her to the idea of enjoying the day even if she wasn’t into the symbolism, but she still hadn’t really celebrated it until she’d started dating Ben. 

The first Thanksgiving of their relationship had come after they’d been dating for a little over three months. Rey had been planning on spending the holiday with Finn and Rose, getting up way too early to go stand along the parade route and watch the giant balloons go by. Ben would be spending the day with his family, and she’d see him on Friday. She hadn’t even thought about possibly going with him.

But then Ben asked her to attend the Skywalker family’s Thanksgiving Extravaganza.

And Rey had said yes without really thinking about it.

That started the new tradition of Rey attending the Thanksgiving Extravaganza. And an extravaganza it was. Ben’s family was joined by close friends, and instead of just the seven members of the Skywalker family, there were about thirty people in total that attended the celebration. Luke was in charge of cooking since he was a chef, but the women of the family helped him and Rey was drafted in to do the same. She spent every Thanksgiving helping to cook now, enjoying the conversations and the alcohol that flowed freely, and in the three years that she had attended the Thanksgiving Extravaganza, Rey had come to love the holiday.

But it was the day after that Rey looked forward to the most.

Ben had just moved in with her a month before this year’s Thanksgiving, and so they were still adjusting to sharing a home. They had already clashed over when to cook dinner and when to eat out, who was going to do the laundry, and why it was that Ben had to help clean the house because Rey wasn’t going to do it all herself. As the holidays approached, Rey knew that she was going to have traditions that Ben didn’t, but she hadn’t expected to be met with such opposition to the first one she had.

“We’re not putting the tree up. It’s November.”

Rey sighed heavily. “I am aware of what month it is, Ben. But there are only three days left in November and, therefore, I think it is completely appropriate to put up the tree.”

“No,” Ben said, walking away from where the boxes were stored. “Absolutely not. It’s way too early to decorate.”

Rey followed him. “We are not waiting until you usually decorate to do this. No, we are definitely decorating for Christmas before that.”

“I can compromise to that, but not in November,” Ben said, sitting down and looking over at Rey. “It’s not even officially winter yet, Rey. It is not time to decorate for Christmas.”

“Well, I fundamentally disagree,” Rey said, shaking her head. “And since it’s my name on the lease, I’m decorating my apartment.”

“We said we’re not going to do this yours and mine stuff anymore,” Ben pointed out. “So that is wholly unfair.”

“Says the man who doesn’t decorate until a week before Christmas, which is completely ridiculous,” Rey said, walking out of the room. “Work on your book. I’m going to go decorate.”

Rey didn’t hear anything else from Ben for the next hour, and she worked on getting the various totes that she stored the Christmas decorations in out of the storage area. Ben was probably going to think that she went overboard with the decorations, but she didn’t care. Nothing that Ben said was going to change her mind about this. Decorating for Christmas made her think of her parents, and it was one of the few memories of them that didn’t fill her heart with sadness. She clung to it like a lifeline during the holidays as she acted like everything was fine. She never wanted to admit how much it hurt to go through the holiday season without her parents. The accident had claimed their lives during the first week of December, and they were never far from her thoughts that time of year because of it. 

Which was why decorating the day after Thanksgiving meant so much to her.

When she was down to just the boxes for the fake tree, Rey sighed heavily. She knew from past experience that the boxes were extremely heavy, and she usually had Finn’s help with getting them out. Calling Finn wasn’t an option because this year he’d gone with Rose to Chicago to spend the holiday with the Ticos, so Rey had no choice but to try and move them herself.

She was not going to ask Ben for help. He’d already made it clear that he wouldn’t.

Ben heard the sounds of Rey moving things around from his office, and he ignored them. He had to get this work done on the novel because he had a deadline approaching, and besides, decorating for Christmas when it was still November was pointless. He already had to devote an entire month to the holiday. He wasn’t going to devote any more to it than necessary.

Though, seeing Rey’s excitement for Christmas every year had made him start to enjoy it more. He just wasn’t ready to admit that. 

He concentrated on the book until he heard a loud thump followed by an equally loud “Ow.” from Rey, and he was up and walking out of his office before he knew it. He found Rey sitting on the floor rubbing at her elbow, one of the boxes the tree was in split open next to her. “Rey? Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Rey snapped. “Go back to writing.”

“No, I think we need to talk about this,” Ben said seriously. “Why are you so set on decorating today? You can’t wait four days to do this?”

Rey shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Make me,” Ben replied. “At least give me the chance to attempt to.”

Rey sat there for a few moments before reaching up to wipe at her eyes. She was not going to cry. “When we moved here,” she began, pausing for another moment. “When we moved here, my mother decided we needed new traditions for a new city. So we bought all these Christmas decorations, the ones that I still have, but it was only the day after Thanksgiving when we got them. My mother didn’t want to wait to decorate, so we decorated the house that day.”

Ben closed his eyes as he realized what this meant to her. “Rey.”

“It became a tradition after that. We decorated the day after Thanksgiving. And after the accident, I kept the tradition up,” she murmured. “But if you don’t like it, then I suppose we can alter it a little. It’s not like I’m being successful at getting all this out anyway.”

Ben went and got onto his knees next to her, pulling Rey close. “I had no idea.”

“I know,” she said, leaning into the embrace. “I don’t particularly care to think about it. I just put the decorations up and think of them in silence. I’ve never even told Finn and Rose that’s why I decorate today.”

Ben brought their lips together, and he smiled into the kiss when he felt Rey melt against him. “Why didn’t you just ask for my help?”

Rey poked him in the stomach. “What do you think I was doing earlier, idiot?”

Ben laughed and kissed her again. “I didn’t let you get that far, I guess.”

Rey sat up and wiped at her eyes. “You should get back to work. I’ll figure this out.”

“Nonsense,” Ben said, standing up and reaching for Rey’s hand. “I’ll get the boxes.”

Rey let Ben help her get up while she looked at him in confusion. “What?”

“I have no argument for why we shouldn’t decorate today beyond it being November. So, if it means that much to you, then let’s decorate.”

“Really?” Rey asked, and Ben pulled her into his arms. 

“We’re building a life together, right?” he said, smiling. “That means adapting to each other’s traditions. There is no reason for me not to go along with this one, so I have a new tradition. Besides, Mama will be happy to know that you are getting me to be more into the spirit earlier. She has always thought it was ridiculous to wait so late to decorate.”

“That’s because it is,” Rey said, shaking her head. “You’re serious?”

“I’m serious,” Ben said. “Let me get this first box and then you tell me where to put it so we can get to the parts inside easily.”

Rey grinned. “Okay.”

She directed Ben and he got the boxes into the living room, and then they spent the afternoon decorating and putting together the tree. Once they were done and darkness had fallen, they turned off all the lights, turned on the strings of lights on the tree, and then sat down on the sofa, enjoying the soft glow. 

“Thank you,” Rey said after a while. “This makes it feel like the holidays.”

“Yeah,” Ben murmured. “It does.”

“I’m sorry that I kept you from working on the novel this afternoon.”

“It’s alright. I’ll probably be staying up late tonight because of it, but I can handle that.”

“I’ll keep you company if you want.”

“You’ll just be a distraction if you keeping me company is anything like what it was last time.”

Rey laughed. “I think you really liked that night.”

“Oh, I did, believe me,” Ben replied. “But I really do need to work tonight, not bend you over my desk.”

“I’ll leave you alone so long as we can do that again soon.”

“We can do it again soon,” Ben confirmed. “We can fulfill a Christmas fantasy of mine while we’re at it.”

“Oh yeah? And what fantasy is this?”

“Underneath the tree,” Ben coughed out. “I’ve always wanted to spread out a blanket and fuck underneath the tree.”

Rey leaned over and kissed Ben deeply. “That sounds amazing.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Rey said, sliding her hands underneath his shirt. “Interested now or do you absolutely have to go write?”

Ben let Rey’s hands roam across his skin for a moment before he reached up and stopped them. “As much as I love this, and believe me, I love it, I really need to go write or I’m going to miss my deadline.”

Rey nodded and pulled back, leaning in to kiss him. “Then you go start writing and I’ll figure out dinner.”

They stood up and Ben pulled Rey into a deep kiss. “You know, depending on if you’re still awake when I give up for the night, I could be persuaded not to go straight to sleep.”

Rey grinned. “I like the way you think, Ben Solo. Now go write so you can be done as quickly as possible. Then we can make sure we’re both on the naughty list.”

Ben laughed as he walked away. Rey turned her attention back to the Christmas tree, smiling. Her parents would have loved Ben, she decided. They would be thrilled that she was so happy. 

And that just made her happier.


End file.
